Secretary of state candidate Joe Neguse can count on cheers when he tells Democrats, “I’m the guy running to clean up Scott Gessler’s mess.”

Those are the first words in a campaign video that will be played at the Colorado Democratic Party assembly in Denver Saturday where he will be officially nominated for the job. Neguse is expected to face Republican Wayne Williams, the El Paso County clerk and recorder, in November. Williams will be nominated at the Colorado Republican Party assembly in Boulder on Saturday.

The video looks at Neguse’s life — he’s the son of African immigrants who moved to this country in the early 1980s. Neguse also praised by Pueblo Clerk Bo Ortiz and state Sen. Pat Steadman. The word ‘integrity is used at least three times.

State Sen. Greg Brophy might be running his governor’s campaign on a shoestring, but he’s now produced back-to-back powerful campaign videos.

The latest features the Wray Republican standing in front what used to be the Brophy family homestead. He talks about his late father, David, who died last year at the age of 83.

“If you live in Colorado you are fiercely independent,” Brophy says in a simple, straightforward style. “You want a government that works just as hard and just as smart as you do on the things that it’s supposed to work on, like education, roads and keeping bad guys in jail.”

He criticizes Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and calls the state Capitol “a special-interest haven.” And Brophy ends by saying if you want a “no drama state government” that concentrates on the issues that matter, you’re invited to join his team.

Civic Center Park in Denver every year gets covered in a cloud of smoke during the event. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post file)

Denver Parks and Recreation on Thursday gave the official go-ahead to organizers of this year’s 4/20 rally, which has grown into a two-day festival. Parks spokesman Jeff Green said the department issued a festival permit to use Civic Center in the last hour. That means parks officials have resolved any concerns remaining from a fight over whether the city should sanction public consumption of marijuana during the massive April 19-20 event, which is expected to draw tens of thousands.

Organizer Miguel Lopez and attorney Robert Corry had asked the city in February to publicly endorse the widespread pot smoking that long has occurred during the event anyway without police permission.

But officials including Mayor Michael Hancock and City Attorney Scott Martinez balked, noting that Amendment 64 did not permit the public use of cannabis, and city ordinance explicitly bars it. The resolution of the dispute included organizers’ agreement to post those rules at the festival. They also will advise attendees that pot consumption in public still is illegal, though organizers disagree with the law. Denver police say they will take the same approach as usual this year, focusing on ensuring safety rather than issuing mass-citations for public consumption.

The video is slightly different than a web video Gessler earlier unveiled, with an actor playing a hapless Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, and footage from Gessler’s campaign kickoff. In the new version, the way-too-long scene with the actor mercifully has been shortened while there’s more from Gessler’s kickoff.

“There was no mechanism available to make it happen,” Melton said. “We’ll try and bring it back next year.”

Melton’s bill, which would have prohibited the use of phone apps while driving and barred drivers from taking calls on hand-held devices, was defeated in the House’s Transportation and Energy Committee last month. However, it was not postponed indefinitely, with Melton thinking he would get a second bite at the apple. He hoped to add three amendments to address some of the committee’s concerns and thought he would get the necessary votes to move forward when the committee met on Thursday.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia already ban the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A busy day in the House of Representatives Thursday came to a halt when the Republican caucus broke for a surprise meeting over lunch. The reason? A move by some party members to remove Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, as minority whip.

“When you’re the minority party it’s important you stay together as a cohesive group. When leadership visibly doesn’t support that teamwork it’s problematic,” said Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen.

Thursday’s actions stemmed from a debate that occurred the day before on the House floor over dueling proposed amendments to the Student Success Act, a bipartisan bill dealing with funding for K-12 schools. Addressing issues of transparency, one of the amendments was brought by Democrat Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, with an opposing one raised by Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Salida.

According to the Republicans, part of Priola’s job as whip is to determine where membership stands on issues and help align support within the party. On Wednesday, party members say, Priola not only failed to do that, he argued on the floor in favor of Hamner’s amendment over Wilson’s.

When Hamner’s amendment was passed in a close vote, it led to Thursday’s move by Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, to have Priola removed.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.